The Christchurch Report

Hi All,

We’re temporarily back in Christchurch, where the tour of New Zealand started. We dropped in to catch a live concert: who knows when we’ll next get to see R.E.M. playing in Tel Aviv... (truth is, it’s been 11 years since the last time they played in NZ). After the show we’re heading to the North Island for a week, then flying to Broome in Western Australia, and working our way south to Perth.

Not much to write about these two weeks - we’ve been relaxing, driving, lying on beaches, playing games, chatting with all sorts of people, etc. And this week we walked the Queen Charlotte track (more about that in a second).

In case anyone’s following the progression: We spent 2 nights in Franz Josef, 1 in Okarito, 1 in Punakaiki (all of them are on the west coast of the south island). Then 3 great nights in Takaka (exploring Golden Bay), 2 in Nelson (exploring the pubs, since it was St. Patrick’s Day), 1 in Picton, 4 on the Queen Charlotte track, and 1 in Kaikoura.

Queen Charlotte Track (QCT)

Here’s a description of the walk (in a somewhat different format) - mostly so that you don’t come to think it’s all about surviving bad weather in the mountains.

QCT is an easy 71km walk, of which we did about 56km. Packs are carried by boats, and night stops are usually in nice lodges and hostels - some of the nicest in the country, actually.

We walked the track with Tassilo, the Crazy German, who we met in Golden Bay and traveled with for a week and a half (yes Tass it’s 10 days exactly, not including the first evening of ping-pong in Takaka).

Day 1: Took a boat to Ship Cove. Walked 1.5 hours to Resolution Bay. Went kayaking, saw a swarm of (harmless) jellyfish. Had dinner by candlelight (pasta with tomato sauce and tuna).

Day 2: Walked 6 hours to Mahana lodge. Ron had a dip in the ocean (cold). Tassilo went kayaking with a Dutch girl named Inga, and they came back with a bucket of fresh mussels. Mussels were steamed and consumed with a watery dish of rice and mushrooms and stuff. At night we went to see glowworms.

Day 3: Walked 7 hours to Portage, in a loose group of the 3 of us, an Israeli brother-sister team, two girls from Connecticut, a Canadian girl named Bre, and a Canadian guy who lives in Germany. The two Israelis and the Americans were camping, the rest of us stayed at the Portage Resort Hotel (it was their backpacker bunkroom, but it was still very nice and comfy). Everyone met after dinner (more rice with mushrooms) at the hotel bar, where things cost twice as much as in the rest of the country, and last call for drinks is at 21:00.

Day 4: Said goodbye to the camping crew. Walked 2.5 hours to Lochmara Lodge with Bre. Reunited with Inga. This time Tassilo and Ron were on mussels-by-kayak duty. Ate fresh muffins (mmm...) Went to the spa. Ate mussels steamed in white wine and pasta with tomato sauce and tuna and pineapple and vegetables. Ate apple crumble dessert with ice cream (mmm...) Some more glowworms.

Day 5: Ate pancakes with ice cream and fruit. Lazed around till midday. Almost missed the boat back to Picton. “HAZARNU AYEFIM ACH RE’EVIM” (sorry Tass it’d take too long to explain).

Bye for now,

- Dana & Ron